Michael Owen (now retired)

[Wolfcastle]

The Middlesbrough game in that season encapsulated a lot.

Viduka: man of the match, immense

Martins: off the bench, scores

Lovenkrands: off the bench, scores

Owen: starts, does nothing, subbed

Even Carroll, on for only five minutes did more and was more of a threat than Owen.

However small a club he thinks we were, he wasn't a big fish in it and never even our best forward. In that relegation season alone there were 4 more useful forwards. Not to mention Ameobi who was probably on a par with him for useful/lessness.

[ToonArmy1892]

There isn't any point getting angry about this, cunt is irrelevant anyway.

[Scoot]

The only player I can think of where the fans of every club he has played for, hate him. Quite an achievement.

[Wolfcastle]

By the way, when KK moved him deeper into midfield, he was Scholes like in his pomp and played some really good football. Owen was a very very good player at one point, never truly world-class, but he was close, very close. His attitude stunk though, he cared more about ego, image, England and horses and considered himself above LFC for some bizarre reason.

 

 

This for NUFC?  Was that when we had a good spell at the end of the season?  Where he played in behind Viduka and Martins?  He looked half decent for a few games, granted.  But he was nothing like Scholes, FFS and he didn't even play the same role. 

 

Some serious revisionist history here 

 

It was more a case of getting Owen out of the way without making a scene to allow to more useful and dangernous forwards to play. It improved the team around Owen and he looked less useless by being out of the firing line. Bit like bringing Fox in to allow Rob Lee to play centrally. It wasn't that Fox was better than Lee but that Lee would excel in that spot.

[Kanj]

The Middlesbrough game in that season encapsulated a lot.

Viduka: man of the match, immense

Martins: off the bench, scores

Lovenkrands: off the bench, scores

Owen: starts, does nothing, subbed

Even Carroll, on for only five minutes did more and was more of a threat than Owen.

However small a club he thinks we were, he wasn't a big fish in it and never even our best forward. In that relegation season alone there were 4 more useful forwards. Not to mention Ameobi who was probably on a par with him for useful/lessness.

 

I’m certain I weeped when Martins scored. I thought we were gonna stay up.

[Chapo]

Robson wrote about all this in his last book iirc.

[GavMcEl]

The Middlesbrough game in that season encapsulated a lot.

Viduka: man of the match, immense

Martins: off the bench, scores

Lovenkrands: off the bench, scores

Owen: starts, does nothing, subbed

Even Carroll, on for only five minutes did more and was more of a threat than Owen.

However small a club he thinks we were, he wasn't a big fish in it and never even our best forward. In that relegation season alone there were 4 more useful forwards. Not to mention Ameobi who was probably on a par with him for useful/lessness.

 

I’m certain I weeped when Martins scored. I thought we were gonna stay up.

Was very emotional after that game too was adamant  that was gonna be the turning  point in our season/history and wed kick on  under Shearer lol

[Yorkie]

Robson wrote about all this in his last book iirc.

 

Aye I can't remember the specifics but it's definitely in there.

 

The disloyal cunt Shearer stayed and scored 60 more goals in three seasons.

[Collage]

The Middlesbrough game in that season encapsulated a lot.

Viduka: man of the match, immense

Martins: off the bench, scores

Lovenkrands: off the bench, scores

Owen: starts, does nothing, subbed

Even Carroll, on for only five minutes did more and was more of a threat than Owen.

However small a club he thinks we were, he wasn't a big fish in it and never even our best forward. In that relegation season alone there were 4 more useful forwards. Not to mention Ameobi who was probably on a par with him for useful/lessness.

 

I’m certain I weeped when Martins scored. I thought we were gonna stay up.

Was very emotional after that game too was adamant  that was gonna be the turning  point in our season/history and wed kick on  under Shearer lol

 

Will never forget that game. It was pure angst. I watched it in a pub and got very drunk. Guy who worked there had to tell me to cut the profanities. ”This is a family pub”

[Yorkie]

Robson wrote about all this in his last book iirc.

 

Aye I can't remember the specifics but it's definitely in there.

 

The disloyal cunt Shearer stayed and scored 60 more goals in three seasons.

 

EDIT: Actually, I think the link came at the end of the 2003/04 season in fairness (in which Shearer had scored 28 of those 60-odd goals), when Bobby wanted to put Kluivert and Bellamy together in the coming season. Turns out Shearer was justified in feeling he deserved to stay in the team seeing as Kluivert was basically a waste of space.

 

I'm sure Bobby had as much to do with the thought of letting Shearer go. I could be miles away but I recall something along the lines of Liverpool offering £3m and Bobby being just about okay with the thought of accepting it, but didn't in the end cos he knew the fans would be fuming.

 

But even if Shearer did fancy a move; A, that happens, so what? B, he didn't actually move. C, he continued to leave everything on the pitch for another two seasons, including reversing his decision to retire because he wanted the glory of the Newcastle record.

 

Anyway, this shite coming from a person like Owen? The man is the embodiment of the modern day mercenary. An utter, utter wanker.

[Guest neesy111]

Kluivert a waste of space I've heard it all now.  Our best partnership was Bellamy and Kluivert in 04/05 and Kluivert scored 1 less league goal than Shearer that season.

[Yorkie]

You've "heard it all" now you've heard Patrick Kluivert was a waste of space? I'll backtrack a bit but it's hardly that outlandish; he found the net a (just about) respectable amount of times, and had a few flashes but he was barely interested in playing for Newcastle. All attributes lined up, there was hardly anything between him and Shearer that season.

[Guest neesy111]

You've "heard it all" now you've heard Patrick Kluivert was a waste of space? I'll backtrack a bit but it's hardly that outlandish; he found the net a (just about) respectable amount of times, and had a few flashes but he was barely interested in playing for Newcastle. All attributes lined up, there was hardly anything between him and Shearer that season.

 

I don't blame anyone for being dis-interested for playing for Newcastle and Graeme Souness that season especially at the tail end of their careers.

[joeyt]

Kluivert was only 28 when we signed him like, not exactly over the hill

[Guest neesy111]

Kluivert was only 28 when we signed him like, not exactly over the hill

 

Forgot about that.

[jdckelly]

the best thing we can all do about owen is try to forget he ever existed.

 

Also on a side point who the fuck would want to buy his autobiography? The fans of every club he played for either dislike/hate him or forgot he ever played for them

[Guest neesy111]

the best thing we can all do about owen is try to forget he ever existed.

 

Also on a side point who the fuck would want to buy his autobiography? The fans of every club he played for either dislike/hate him or forgot he ever played for them

 

It'll be for people who like the England Band.  Fairweather fans.

[Wolfcastle]

You've "heard it all" now you've heard Patrick Kluivert was a waste of space? I'll backtrack a bit but it's hardly that outlandish; he found the net a (just about) respectable amount of times, and had a few flashes but he was barely interested in playing for Newcastle. All attributes lined up, there was hardly anything between him and Shearer that season.

 

I don't blame anyone for being dis-interested for playing for Newcastle and Graeme Souness that season especially at the tail end of their careers.

 

Remember the paper aeroplanes against Palace that stole the show.

[GeordieDazzler]

[NEEJ]

Robson wrote about all this in his last book iirc.

 

Aye I can't remember the specifics but it's definitely in there.

 

The disloyal cunt Shearer stayed and scored 60 more goals in three seasons.

 

EDIT: Actually, I think the link came at the end of the 2003/04 season in fairness (in which Shearer had scored 28 of those 60-odd goals), when Bobby wanted to put Kluivert and Bellamy together in the coming season. Turns out Shearer was justified in feeling he deserved to stay in the team seeing as Kluivert was basically a waste of space.

 

I'm sure Bobby had as much to do with the thought of letting Shearer go. I could be miles away but I recall something along the lines of Liverpool offering £3m and Bobby being just about okay with the thought of accepting it, but didn't in the end cos he knew the fans would be fuming.

 

But even if Shearer did fancy a move; A, that happens, so what? B, he didn't actually move. C, he continued to leave everything on the pitch for another two seasons, including reversing his decision to retire because he wanted the glory of the Newcastle record.

 

Anyway, this shite coming from a person like Owen? The man is the embodiment of the modern day mercenary. An utter, utter wanker.

"An urban myth that dogged me towards the end of my time with Newcastle was that I tried to sell Alan Shearer to Liverpool - not in a million years. "

 

He basically goes on to say that Shepherd received a bid but failed to tell him about it as he had no interest in selling "the crown jewels". Bobby suggested Mpenza as his replacement for £1.2m in case Shepherd changed his mind but then requested that Al's contract be sorted ASAP when it was clear that there was no chance of him leaving.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

By the way, when KK moved him deeper into midfield, he was Scholes like in his pomp and played some really good football. Owen was a very very good player at one point, never truly world-class, but he was close, very close. His attitude stunk though, he cared more about ego, image, England and horses and considered himself above LFC for some bizarre reason.

 

 

This for NUFC?  Was that when we had a good spell at the end of the season?  Where he played in behind Viduka and Martins?  He looked half decent for a few games, granted.  But he was nothing like Scholes, FFS and he didn't even play the same role. 

 

Some serious revisionist history here 

 

It was more a case of getting Owen out of the way without making a scene to allow to more useful and dangernous forwards to play. It improved the team around Owen and he looked less useless by being out of the firing line. Bit like bringing Fox in to allow Rob Lee to play centrally. It wasn't that Fox was better than Lee but that Lee would excel in that spot.

 

Nah, it was because Owen could make intelligent runs through the middle coming forward from deep if Martins stretched defences to create gaps and Viduka held play up. In theory anyway. My Scholes comment was obviously hyperbole at the time, but Owen in that brief spell was very good for us in general play and in front of goal and as a footballer, he was underrated in many ways. Whenever he did play prior to the Kinnear debacle, he was no mercenary or played in a half arsed manner. He was just half arsed in terms of being one of the players around the club, as a Captain, as a record signing, as a personality and a presence.

 

Him never wanting to come here in the first place, but eventually signed, says everything about him. Greed. Wanting away from Real Madrid showed his mentality up for what it was too. Weak.

 

I have it on good authority Liverpool Board wanted him back and he wanted to go back, but Rafa didn’t rate him and told him and the board in no uncertain terms, he’d be more of a squad player coming off the bench. Rafa questioned his attitude too and told the board not to bow down to his demands and high and mighty self importance, after all he he,d them to ransom over his contract and pushed for a move to Real Madrid.

 

It makes me feel good knowing how no set of fans not even England fans ever warmed to him, the opposite in fact. It also makes me feel more smug knowing he missed out on winning the Champions League with Liverpool, ended up achieving fuck all with England where his entire legacy in the 3 lions shirt will be remembered for that one goal against Argentina and then only when a World Cup comes around or if England play Argentina. He’s no more of a name for England than a Crouch or a Heskey.

 

Joining Man Utd as a bit part player rather than join someone like say an Everton and play every game also showed how selfish and uninterested he was in playing week in week out and finishing his career on a high note. He just wanted to add more footnotes for his brochure and CV.

 

Man Utd fans won’t remember him, Liverpool fans can’t stand him, he’s obviously hated here and Real Madrid fans probably wouldn’t even be able to tell you what year he played for them.

 

He’s a narcissistic, arrogant, typical wormy self centred jumped up prick, the type who considers himself better than everyone else and everyone isn’t worthy of his presence or time, unless they pay him of course and pander to his ego or demands.

 

He’s only a pundit because he’s considered a big name and even then he’s a shot one. I guarantee he has no real friends inside of football and regardless of what Shearer ended up thinking about him, he did so in private and I’m pretty sure Shearer let Owen know to his face in a way that wouldn’t hurt his poor little sensitive soul. Owen being a timid timmy type, would, rather than confront his detractors face to face like a real man, do so behind their back.

 

Having ‘spoke his mind’ and ‘said his piece’ years after the fact regarding his detractors over the pages of a book and followed up on social media, it’s obviously more than some snide form of rebuttal setting the facts straight or getting his side of the story out, because before this ‘revelation’ whatever differences between him and Shearer was not a story at all. It is now and clearly a deliberate ploy to promote an otherwise banal and boring story truly reflecting who it’s about, as something with an edge, with a bit of controversy. The desperation to sell it as a must read and portray its central character as a hard done by, unfairly maligned figure, is pathetic. Just like this so-called ‘beef’.

 

I know people who know Shearer and he doesn’t suffer fools easily and doesn’t tolerate slackers or people who take the piss, for someone like him to just unfriend Owen who he actually went out of his way to help the club to get him to join and also to help him as a person away from the pitch after he signed and indeed with England, just shows how big of a cunt Owen as a person really must be.

 

If Owen was a true friend, he’d have rallied around the man who put him up, took him out, give him career advice when he was young, stuck up for him in the media, was willing to give him his 9 shirt and helped convince the club to go all and and get someone he thought was a winner like him, a professional and above all else a great player who could help make his team a better team.

 

He got more effort out of Viduka more support from someone like Joey Barton who as much of a cunt he is, was or could be, he’ll speak his mind and say his piece to your face or in person.

 

I never wanted us to sign Owen, I wanted us to sign Anelka as we didn’t quite have the players to get the best out of Owen nor the manager, Souness wanted to play a front 3 with wide attacking forwards that’s why he wanted Boa Morte (he got Luque instead). Owen was not worth 16m even back then, never wanted to be here, was a negative presence (when he actually graced his team-mates, the manager, the coaching staff and other club staff with his presence that is) and was injury prone and committed to England duties far more.

 

He come for the money, his sheer arrogance and self importance made him believe his ‘hell’ on Tyneside wouldn’t last long anyway so take the money, score a few goals, have the fans chanting his name, keep his place as the main man up front for England and Liverpool or Man Utd or AC Milan or some big huge club will come in for him.

 

While he was here though, when he did play, he was often our one player who put in 7s and the odd 8s and 9s. Hw was obviously a good player and in training he was professional, ate right, trained hard, worked hard on his fitness and wanted to do the business on the pitch. Not for his manager, his big pal Al, his team-mates, the fans, the chairman or his club of course, but for Michael Owen.

 

I can’t fault his performances in the main and once Kinnear come and the likes of Viduka were told to come and go as they please and everyone else started taking the piss, he was one of a handful who turned around and thought, this is a fucking joke, they are a joke. Get me out of here, I don’t want to have any part of this charade and I respect that.

 

When Shearer come in though, he should have been Shearer’s biggest ally, asset, cheer leader, dressing room voice, a strength and source of help. Instead he hid like the coward he is and abandoned his duties even to himself. And hey, why not, 8 games left to leave as a free agent.

 

The damage by then was 100% done, Shearer had no chance, not with the shower of shite around him, his so-called mate numero uno.

 

I hope one of his horses falls on him one day and he ends up sipping milkshakes from a straw wedded to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Now that’s one story I’d love to read about involving him! The cowardly cunt he is!

 

As for Shearer - he’s a legend, a great man.

 

 

[Yorkie]

NEEJ. Fair dos, my recollection is some way off.

 

That extract doesn't help (or hinder) the accuracy of Owen's claim. I doubt there's any truth in Shearer being desperate to leave.

[NEEJ]

NEEJ. Fair dos, my recollection is some way off.

 

That extract doesn't help (or hinder) the accuracy of Owen's claim. I doubt there's any truth in Shearer being desperate to leave.

There's a bit later in the chapter where Bobby says they didn't discuss the matter for a while until Shearer thought to bring it up.

"You didn't tell me about Liverpool, did you?" That suggests to me that Shearer wasn't exactly itching for a move but sure as hell would've used it in his contract negotiations.

[Yorkie]

So either: Shearer wasn't itching to go to Liverpool, Bobby was an outright liar, or Michael Owen's a daft little know-nowt bit of pondlife.

[Mattoon]

So either: Shearer wasn't itching to go to Liverpool, Bobby was an outright liar, or Michael Owen's a daft little know-nowt bit of pondlife.

 

Really not sure on that one, pretty hard to determine who's telling the truth really